Privacy Policy

1.Who We Are

Benington 4x4 Centre is a specialist Land Rover and Range Rover garage based at Benington Park Farm, Benington, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG2 7BU. We are the data controller for the personal information we collect about you.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at info@benington4x4centre.co.uk or call 01438 869432.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller. If you wish to verify our registration, you can search the ICO's Data Protection Register at ico.org.uk.

2.What Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following personal data about you:

Identity and contact information: your name, telephone number, email address and postal address when you submit an enquiry form, book a service, or contact us directly.

Vehicle information: your vehicle registration number, make, model, mileage and service history where relevant to the work you have requested.

Financial information: payment card details processed securely at the point of sale. We do not store full card details.

Technical data: IP address, browser type, device information and pages visited when you use our website, collected via cookies and analytics tools.

Communications: records of correspondence if you contact us by email, telephone or through our website contact form.

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us immediately.

3.How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data only for the following specified purposes:

To provide and manage the services you have requested, including vehicle servicing, repairs, MOT preparation and parts supply.

To respond to your enquiries and communicate with you about your vehicle or booking.

To send you service reminders or follow-up communications where you have given explicit consent to receive them. You may withdraw consent at any time.

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including financial record-keeping requirements.

To improve our website and services through anonymised analytics data.

We will not use your personal data for any purpose incompatible with the purposes listed above without first obtaining your consent.

4.Our Legal Basis for Processing

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

Contract (Article 6(1)(b)): processing is necessary to fulfil the service contract between us — for example, to carry out repairs, order parts on your behalf, or process payment.

Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): we may process your data where it is in our legitimate business interests to do so, such as maintaining service records, preventing fraud, or improving our operations, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override ours.

Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): where you have given us clear, freely given, specific and informed consent — for example, to send you marketing communications or service reminders. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): where we are required to process your data to comply with a legal requirement, such as HMRC record-keeping obligations.

5.How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, or as required by law. We review our retention periods regularly.

Vehicle service and repair records are retained for a minimum of six years to comply with financial and legal obligations under HMRC guidelines.

Enquiry and contact form data is retained for up to 12 months unless a longer-term service relationship is established, after which it is securely deleted.

Where you have consented to receive marketing communications, we will retain your contact details until you withdraw consent or request deletion.

6.Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data to third parties. We may share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

With parts suppliers or specialist subcontractors where necessary to complete work on your vehicle, and only to the minimum extent required to fulfil the service.

With our IT and website service providers (including GoDaddy, Inc.) who process data on our behalf as data processors under written data processing agreements that require them to protect your data.

Where required by law, regulation, court order or to protect the rights, property or safety of Benington 4x4 Centre, our customers or others.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes.

7.International Transfers

Some of our third-party service providers are based outside the United Kingdom. Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with UK GDPR requirements.

These safeguards may include transfers to countries with an adequacy decision from the UK Secretary of State, or the use of UK International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) or equivalent contractual protections.

If you would like further information about the specific safeguards applied to any international transfer of your data, please contact us.

8.Automated Decision-Making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.

9.Cookies

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to collect analytics data. A cookie is a small text file placed on your device when you visit our website.

Essential cookies are strictly necessary for the website to function correctly and cannot be switched off. They do not store any personally identifiable information.

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website. These cookies are only placed with your explicit consent, in accordance with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and UK GDPR.

You can control and delete cookies through your browser settings at any time. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For more information about cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

10.Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure. These measures include secure server infrastructure, encrypted data transmission (HTTPS) and restricted access to personal data.

In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the ICO within 72 hours and, where required, notify you directly without undue delay.

11.Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights regarding your personal data. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to certain exemptions.

Right of access (Article 15): you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, free of charge, within one calendar month.

Right to rectification (Article 16): you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data without undue delay.

Right to erasure (Article 17): you may ask us to delete your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue processing it — for example, where consent has been withdrawn and no other legal basis applies.

Right to restrict processing (Article 18): you may ask us to suspend processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example while accuracy is contested.

Right to data portability (Article 20): where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request your data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

Right to object (Article 21): you may object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes. We will cease processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.

Rights related to automated decision-making (Article 22): you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects. We do not carry out such processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@benington4x4centre.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

12.How to Complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us in the first instance at info@benington4x4centre.co.uk. We will investigate and respond promptly.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at any time. You can contact the ICO at www.ico.org.uk, by telephone on 0303 123 1113, or by post at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

13.Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.